Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is very welcome to the Chamber. I firstly acknowledge the amount of work he has done on this incredibly important piece of legislation. There are so many addictions people can have from drugs, to alcohol, to gambling and to loads of things, but the one which can be hidden the most is gambling. We need to put in as many measures as possible to create as much of a deterrent as possible, particularly for young people and people who are vulnerable, to get into gambling. That is what this Bill does and it is to be hugely welcomed. People may raise points of concern or seek clarity as we are all in the same boat and want to bring in legislation to help people from falling into the precarious position of addiction to gambling.

In light of this, the issue of bingo has been raised by a number of Senators, including Senators Ward and Doherty. I have been approached by a number of people about this. Even today tipperarylive.iefrom The Nationalisthad a story about Gortnahoe bingo hall having a large payout coming in the next couple of nights for a big bingo session. Every time I come to Dublin I pass the sign for the bingo in Crumlin. They are hardly classed as people who are gambling addicts. These are people who often go out just one night in the week. They ask that the Minister of State look at the €10 cap that is being proposed. One of the other concerns on which we might get clarity is in terms of signage and advertising for bingo events. There are big advertisements outside bingo halls to promote it on particular nights. What can be done about this?

Other people have also mentioned that some of this legislation could be done by the regulator who has been appointed. The legislation could be a bit lighter and let the regulator regulate more stringently. This could certainly be the case for the GAA, the Federation of Irish Sport and the Charities Institute of Ireland, which have been speaking about their concerns about charities and fundraisers. We all know of GAA clubs, sports clubs and organisations that do raffles and draws and we must make sure they are exempt from it. I know the Minister of State is on the record as saying he will bring forward an amendment in the Seanad and I look forward to it. We will be able to tease it out a bit more. It just shows the Minister of State's engagement on being open to listening to organisations involved with it.

Another point that has been mentioned by a number of speakers is electronic usage. There is one racetrack in the country that is quite important; Dundalk Stadium has horse and dog racing. It only has electronic payments. Are we essentially saying it would have to go to cash-only payment as opposed to electronic payment? This would mean that people in the restaurant there could not tap to pay. Most people our age and younger use their phone as their wallet. Essentially they would not be able to tap and would have to have cash on them.

The real question I have is about the racing industry. I come from Tipperary where there is a large element of the equine industry. It is very important for regional employment and our local economy in Tipperary. No one is suggesting, as has been mentioned here previously, that the racing industry will be finished because of this legislation. I would not like it to be thought that people are bringing concerns to the floor of the House because of this suggestion. No one is suggesting this. I have no problem with the ban on advertising between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. The question I have is with regard to having the ban on paid platforms such as Racing TV, At The Races or Sky Sports, where people must apply for a subscription and they have to be over 18, have a credit card and must give personal information.

There are examples of other countries that have done this. Australia is a very good example, where laws are in place on time bans for advertising online gambling but paid TV stations are exempt. Australia is bringing through a law at present to have a 24-hour ban on advertisement on normal TV channels. Having a 24-hour ban was raised earlier on the other side of the House. There would be no problem with this if, like in Australia, racing stations or sports stations are exempt. The problem with not exempting them is that the channels Racing UK and At The Races show Irish racing. If they cannot fund this through advertisement, and an obvious part of advertisement is what we are speaking about, they will choose to show UK racing instead of Irish racing. There is no certainty that Irish TV channels would be able to show these races as an alternative. I suggest that we look at it further and perhaps look at the Australian model where it has been done successfully in recent years. Perhaps we can tease this out further on Committee Stage.